Just hours after the U.S. Supreme struck down the Defense of Marriage Act on June 26, a comedy website (which shall remain unnamed and unlinked-to) offered readers a “Guide to How the Gay Marriage Ruling Affects You,” the monotonous shtick of which was that, unless you are a homosexual who wished to marry, it doesn’t. Are you straight? Married? Religious? “This decision does not affect you in any way.”

Certainly nothing new or surprising about the assertion that “gay marriage won’t...

Today in the United States we celebrate Independence Day. Two hundred thirty-seven years ago our Founding Fathers declared our nation’s freedom.

Freedom is a good thing but, at the level of the individual, it is not always what people think it is. True freedom does not mean having the ability always to do whatever we want or whatever others might expect us to do. In fact, it sometimes entails acting against our desires or the expectations of others. To do otherwise...